The disturbing crimes of the Vampire of Nuremberg | Forensic Files

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notes for this episode on your app or on our website in late april 1972 a serious matter was
unravelling at the west friedhorf mortuary in noremberg germany several relatives of the
recently deceased had noticed a jury missing from their loved ones bodies the cadavers had been stored in the
facility's crematorium prior to burial where at some point the jury would vanish
the bereaved expressed to their concerns to the mortuary's night watchman 47 year old georg varmud
complaints like these weren't unusual the missing items would usually be found at the home of the deceased having never
been on their body in the first place other times mortuary staff would remove the high value items and store them in a
small chest for safe keeping it was only a matter of time before they reappeared
this time however georg was beginning to suspect something was amiss upon entering the
mortuary's waiting room one day georg found a money box displaced on a table it had been forced open and emptied
finding no evidence of a break-in georg believed that the culprit was likely someone who worked at the mortrey
or the adjoining nuremberg west cemetery to avoid causing tension amongst his colleagues or tarnishing the reputation
of his workplace georg kept his suspicions to himself he began investigating the matter
discreetly with the intention to confront the perpetrator once he had identified them
a six-foot tall burly war veteran georg felt more than capable of handling any ensuing conflict
the following days were uneventful then a storm rolled in on the night of may five
georg varmud took shelter at his home next to the mortuary he was watching television and thinking
over the recent spate of thefts when the phone rang on the other line was one of his neighbours
a woman who lived opposite the cemetery she reported seeing a dark figure moving
quickly between the graves suspecting it was the thief georg rushed to the mortuary
he hid patiently in the darkness on the mezzanine floor waiting for the thief to appear
when they failed to do so george sought them out his search led him to the crematorium
georg turned out the lights and waited in the shadows he heard the door creek open
a slim short statured man with the jet black hair entered the secure area and slowly made
his way to a nearby coffin it contained the body of a 15 year old girl who had arrived the previous day
georg watched as the intruder lent into the coffin and kissed the corpse on the lips
[Music] this was one of many disturbing incidents that had occurred at a german mortuary or cemetery in recent times
a year earlier on april 14 1971 a staff member at the ulsdorf cemetery in hamburg
entered the mortuary and stumbled across a horrific scene the body of a girl had been removed from
her coffin and posed so that she was leaning against it she was naked and her lips and neck were
bruised with visible bite marks placed beside her were two burnt out candles she was surrounded by the bodies of
other corpses that had also been removed from their coffins they were sitting up facing the girl
three days later 64 kilometers east of hamburg an undertaker was met by a similar scene
when he walked into his parlour the body of a recently deceased 40 year old woman
was sitting up outside of her coffin surrounded by burnt out candles then on the island of silt in the north
sea a pastor headed over to his church the body of a 52 year old man was lying in a coffin
inside ready to be laid to rest the pastor had made sure the coffin was closed when he left
the previous evening but as he entered the church that day the lid was open worse still protruding from the man's
chest was a hunting knife in may a woman named marion was walking through the moorland cemetery in the
town of flensburg as she drew closer to her mother's burial plot she noticed someone sitting on the
adjoining gravesite marion was shocked to realise that the grave had been dug up
the person sitting was the body of the man who'd been buried there he had been decapitated and his head was
missing months later on november 6 a man was visiting a cemetery in fight to pay his
respects to a deceased relative while walking through the grounds he spotted a grave that had been
dug up the coffin within had been prised open and to the naked body of a young girl
was sitting upright on the mound of dirt when west friedhorf mortuary knight watchman georg
varmud came across the intruder kissing the corpse he immediately leapt into action
the perpetrator realizing he'd been caught in the act made a break for the exit georg
chased after him grabbing him by the collar as he reached the door he pulled the man into a nearby elevator
where the diffused light illuminated the man's face he was a strange-looking individual aged
in his thirties with spectacles and a bulbous nose he didn't utter a word a loud bang interrupted the pair's
altercation as georg was hit by a painful blow blood seeped from his upper abdomen into
his shirt he let go of the intruder who was holding a smoking 7.65 millimeter pistol
and fell to the ground the gunman grinned at the wounded georg before taking off
gail crawled on all fours to the telephone in his office he called emergency services then
dragged himself to the bathroom to tend to his injury the bullet had damaged his small and
large intestines as well as his bladder but george survived police arrived and sealed off the
mortuary but the gunman was long gone georg was able to provide a detailed description of his assailant
but the following day 50 detectives were chasing up the alibis of known gravediggers
robbers thieves and other criminals in the area all of them were accounted for [Music]
when 24 year old marcus adler met 19 year old ruth lissy it was love at first sight
the pair met three years earlier in yugoslavia and had been inseparable since marcus and his mother ran a
freight business in uberhausen while ruth was employed as a salesperson more than 470 kilometers away
in nuremberg every chance that he got marcus drove the long journey in his light grey mercedes to visit ruth
on may 6 marcus set out for the home where ruth lived with her parents after he arrived the two decided to go
for a drive together they farewelled ruth's mother at 6 00 pm and left in marcus's car the young couple
headed to a forest east of norrenberg a short drive from ruth's home after finding a scenic spot to park the
two dozed off with marcus in the front seat and ruth lying in the back nearby a short bespectacled man drove
through the forest on his red moped it was the perfect place for him to lay low until the heat of the vest friedhoff
mortary shooting dissipated he had spent the day exploring the wilderness where he
carried out target practice this particular forest was popular with hunters so the sound of his shooting at traffic
signs trees and the occasional deer didn't attract any unwanted attention the man was still there at dusk riding
around aimlessly when he spotted the light grey mercedes with the sleeping couple
inside he pulled over and cautiously approached the car he reached over and opened the driver's
side door the noise woke marcus prompting the man to pull out his 7.65 millimeter pistol
he shot marcus in the head causing ruth to sit up abruptly the man shifted his attention to her
shooting her in the left side of her chest he then leaned into the car and shot both of them
execution style to make certain they were dead overwhelmed with impulse the man climbed
into the car and pressed his lips to marcus's wounds sucking the blood from them once he'd
had enough he clambered into the back seat he tore ruth's sweater off pushed up her bra
then licked the blood from her chest wound after 10 minutes he was overcome with a
calming sense of satisfaction he felt stronger than before the man pulled off ruth's engagement
ring and rummaged through her purse he found marcus's wallet in the glove compartment
as he examined its contents he noticed someone approaching the car a hunter was combing the edge of the
forest when he spotted the light grey mercedes parked up ahead somebody was standing nearby acting
nervously it was a small man wearing a leather hat and sunglasses he then rushed to a red moped parked
five meters away and sped off the hunter reached the mercedes and peered through its windows
finding the bodies of marcus adler and ruth lissy inside shocked by the grisly discovery
the hunter fired his shotgun into the air to alert nearby hikers and farmers that help was needed
there was no response left with no other option he was forced to track one and a half
kilometers to the nearest phone booth where he contacted police poster mortems revealed that marcus and
ruth's wounds had been sucked clean of blood the double homicide occurred less than
24 hours after the shooting of georg varmud and in the same city investigators wondered if the two incidents were
related they compared the bullets retrieved from both crime scenes they were a perfect match
the head of nuremberg's homicide squad called the disturbed perpetrator a madman we have to act fast he asserted
otherwise there will be more deaths a task force was swiftly formed to hunt down the killer
while the 6000 deutsche mark reward was offered for his capture his physical description was published
in newspapers along with an alert for the public to be on the lookout for his distinctive red
moped helmut kostan was employed with a transit company based in nuremberg four days after the
adler and lissy slayings helmut picked up a copy of a local paper the blood-sucking gun-wielding madman
terrorizing the city was still making headlines helmut was struck by the suspect's
description it reminded him of his colleague 41 year old kuno hoffman hoffman was a
short-statured black-haired man who wore spectacles and drove a red moped just minutes earlier hoffman had entered
the manager's office and abruptly resigned from his job he no longer wanted to work the docks
loading boxes into trucks instead expressing a desire to go to hamburg hoffman had just left when helmut kostan
came across his description in the local paper in relation to the recent killings
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you listen to podcasts kuno hoffman was a troubled individual following his birth in 1931 he was
violently beaten by his alcoholic father at age one kuna's father shoved him into
a sack and threw him away on another occasion young kuno was hung from a wooden window
frame and beaten kuno's mother claimed the brutal physical abuse had caused kuno to become
deaf and non-verbal however a doctor maintained that his permanent disabilities were the result of a middle
ear infection kuno's father remained an inconsistent presence throughout his childhood
often spending long stints in prison he served time for burglary child abuse and the attempted murder of a woman he
had raped when his father was home kuno isolated himself to avoid his wrath his parents
eventually divorced in 1940 kuno moved between eight different schools for deaf children
before taking on a shoemaker's apprenticeship he gave up on that in a fit of rage then
took up work on an agricultural estate in nuremberg although considered a diligent worker
kuno lost his job when he demanded a higher wage with an iq of 70 and the inability to
communicate options were limited for kuno his life from there on out was interspersed with odd jobs
and crime his first charge came in 1949 following the theft of a bicycle by the 1950s he was committing
burglaries and arson the courts tried to help hoffman he was placed into various medical and
nursing homes but the silent man remained an enigma to physicians in total he spent nine years in nursing
homes and another nine in prison [Music] sometimes he accepted treatment willingly
other times not so much he exploited lacked security measures in the homes where he was kept to escape
on 12 occasions by 1971 he had only spent five years of his adult life free of any type of
incarceration hoffman went to live with his sister and brother in nuremberg where he picked up work for the first
time in a long time kuno hoffman's life seemed to be on track however hoffman was an unappealing man
who was unable to form romantic relationships he developed an addiction to pornography
and took to visiting brothels in search of companionship yet he felt the sex workers only aimed
to get the job done and was left bitter by their expressions of disgust whenever they were intimate with him
he desired to be loved tenderly and permanently over time loneliness consumed him
at one stage his sister told him to buy a rubber doll but hoffman was determined to find
another way to improve his situation following the tip-off to police six officers in four patrol cars
quickly descended on kuno hoffman's workplace although he matched the description of
the shooter wanted in relation to the adler lissy murders his colleagues didn't actually believe
hoffman was responsible he was by their accounts a harmless guy when police came looking for him they
discovered hoffman had since left the premises a search commenced and by chance he was spotted hiding
behind a truck he took off but was quickly apprehended police would come to discover that kuno
hofmann was deaf and non-verbal and communicated using noiseless facial expressions and hand
gestures as such an interpreter was summoned to facilitate communications between him and homicide
detectives the interview began at 6 pm to enable more time for evidence gathering
the interpreter spoke on hoffman's behalf and his answers were recorded throughout the 50-minute interrogation
hoffman was caught lying and his version of events were contradictory at one stage police threatened hoffman
with a crowbar to get him to confess to the murders yet he only admitted to things he wanted
to meanwhile hoffman's room at the home he shared with his sister and brother was
being searched his red moped was found at the address along with the ruthless engagement ring
the human skull that had been cut from a corpse in moulin cemetery was also amongst hoffman's possessions as were a
set of duplicate keys to the vest freedof mortary and other items stolen from the
crematorium however the murder weapon was still missing shortly before 9pm an officer examining
hoffman's washing machine began unscrewing the appliance piece by piece hidden within he discovered a 7.65
millimeter pistol he contacted the detectives interviewing hoffman to inform them of the discovery
when hoffman was told of the find his face twitched and lips trembled he then began to motion
with his hands over the next 20 minutes he provided investigators with a confession
hoffman read extensively and in 1966 purchased a book titled the black magic by an occultist group in hamburg
the text fostered what would become a lifelong fascination of the dark arts hoffman read up on
various occult subjects like satanism and soon harbored an obsession to self-improve using their
teachings he became infatuated by two particularly taboo subgroups vampirism and necrophilia the sexual
attraction to or sexual acts involving corpses between 1971 and 72 hoffman forced entry into cemeteries and
mortuaries throughout germany he stole and duplicated building keys so he could move in and
out with ease under the cover of darkness he dug up fresh graves or entered crematoriums
and began violating the deceased he stabbed them with knives and razors and drank their blood
occasionally he'd chew their flesh cut off their heads remove their hearts or examine their
internal organs sometimes he'd manipulate several bodies at a single scene posing them around each other he'd also
sexually interfere with the bodies of women he found attractive he traveled to each location on his red
moped by may 1972 hoffman had desecrated the remains of 35 individuals obituary notices
published in newspapers helped him choose his victims at one stage his brother suspected he
was up to something he articulated to hoffman [Music] say are you crazy corno why are you
studying the obituaries in the papers why are you visiting the morgue for no reason
do you want to enjoy the dead women [Music] hoffman did not respond but the accusation made him
increasingly cautious hoffman believed that by carrying out his black magic rituals
and consuming the blood of his victims he would become handsome and strong he also thought it would give him back
his hearing and voice only then would he have power over women in the meantime he had to impose his
will on others through other means he developed a fascination with pistols and rifles
which led to the purchase of a 7.65 millimeter pistol for 500 deutsche marks hoffman had made duplicate keys to the
vest fried off mortary and entered the premises on four occasions to steal valuables from the
bodies stored there he intended to do so again on the night of may 5 1972 however
once inside his plans changed he wanted a pretty girl whose blood he could drink
hoffman was already in the morgue when georg varmud entered but because he was deaf
hoffman did not hear the night watchmen approach startled he rushed to the exit hoffman pulled out his pistol on the way
and shot georg to facilitate his escape once outside he scrambled over the wooden fence
surrounding the cemetery and climbed onto his red moped that he had hidden in nearby shrubbery
he then took off home at nine the following morning hoffman rode his moped to the forest east of
nuremberg where he hid for the duration of the day that evening he came across marcus adler
and ruth lissy he killed the couple and consumed their blood telling detectives that the pretty young girl
had been much better than the women in the graveyards as the passerby had seen him and his
distinct vehicle hoffman believed the police would track him down easily he hid his pistol in his washing machine
and promptly quit his job hoping to flee the city before authorities caught up with him
[Music] hoffman's former employers were shocked by his actions they issued a statement that described
hoffman as a nice person and questioned how the unassuming man could be capable of carrying out such
horrendous acts their character references were overwhelmingly positive hoffman hid his true nature well
this indicated that he was capable of maintaining a double life and in complete control of his behavior
realizing that his sanity would play a major role in his punishment hoffman changed tactics
he smashed the furniture in his cell and began writing bizarre letters in one addressed
to the homicide squad he claimed to have two times the amount of victims as martin rojak
a serial killer in the late 1500s rohack is believed to have the highest number of victims in the czech lands
allegedly killing over 59 people in a four-year span hoffman also claimed to be innocent like
vera bruna a woman famous throughout germany as a victim of miscarriage of justice
he also claimed he was the nephew of the british queen a member of a western german far left
militant organization red army faction and penned a letter to the pope requesting admission
into the strictest order of the catholic church he painted his cell walls with threats
including one that read i will cut off the head of the judge and throw it in a dog bowl
he demanded his murder weapon be returned so he could use it to bring the dead back to life
hoffman first appeared in court in august to 1974. the building was packed with onlookers
as hoffman via sign language tried to explain his motive he detailed his extreme loneliness
alienation and isolation and how that impacted his ability to have intimate relationships
these feelings then led him to commit the appalling acts the defense argued that hoffman was
insane but the prosecution thought differently it was the court's role to decide
whether he should face trial for murder or be judged unfit to plead and face confinement in a mental health
facility two psychiatrists who had studied kuno hoffman appeared in court the first believed
that the accused had lost touch with the world around him and was unfit to stand
trial his colleague disagreed telling the court that hoffman was responsible for his
quote hysterical condition the trial judge suspended court proceedings for two years
as psychiatric experts debated over hoffman's sanity during this time hoffman was moved
between specialist clinics and psychiatric wards where his psychosis was examined
and treated when he returned to court in july 1976 he appeared well though his recollections of his crimes remained
inconsistent he claimed he acted in self-defense in both the west friedhorf mortuary
and the nuremberg forest shootings he alleged that marcus adler had surprised him while he was practicing
shooting in the woods and knocked the gun out of his hand following this assertion questions were
once again raised as to hoffman's mental stability depending on the source kuno hoffman's
outcome varies some report that he never faced the full trial after being deemed criminally insane
this version ends with his indefinite detainment in a mental health facility other more reliable sources state that
he was ruled sane and faced court for at least the shooting attacks they claim that hoffman described by the
trial judge as a pitiful human being was sentenced to two life sentences for the murders of marcus adler and ruth
lissy with an additional 10 years for the attempted murder of georg varmud while awaiting transfer to a federal
penitentiary he taunted jailers requesting one final sip of a virgin's blood [Music]
there have also been reports that hoffman was released in 2004 for reasons if true we couldn't
ascertain this ending has hoffman returning to nuremberg to live these sources state that in 2008 the now
75 year old was working on a memoir though the status of the work is unclear [Music]
should you believe this to be the true ending to kuno hoffman's story it is important to note that no one
knows where he is today [Music] you

Case 181: The Vampire of Nuremberg

During the early ’70s, cemeteries and mortuaries throughout Germany were targeted by a particularly disturbing grave robber. Not only did he steal the personal belongings of the dead, but he also exhumed, mutilated, molested, and gnawed upon the bodies...

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Milly Raso Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas

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Brief Summary

Kuno Hoffman committed gruesome murders and desecrated corpses in Nuremberg, leading to a complex investigation and trial.

Key points

The Rise of ShipStation. ShipStation simplifies shipping for e-commerce sellers, making it easier to manage orders.
A Disturbing Discovery. Georg Varmud uncovers a thief in the mortuary, leading to a violent confrontation.
A Gruesome Double Homicide. Marcus and Ruth are brutally murdered in a forest, raising questions about a serial killer.
The Hunt for a Madman. Police form a task force to catch a killer terrorizing Nuremberg after two brutal murders.
Kuno Hoffman's Troubled Past. Kuno Hoffman's abusive childhood and criminal history shape his disturbing future actions.
Hoffman's Confession. After discovering a hidden pistol, Hoffman confessed to investigators over 20 minutes.

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